viol

Forms

viol n (plural violuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French viol.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][1]} The French noun is a deverbal of violer (“to violate”), from Latin violō (“to violate”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the third edition of Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary, of 1900.^[2] The DLR's earliest quotation, from the Enciclopedia română, uses it as a legal term: rape of a person under fifteen is a crime punished with the heaviest prison sentence.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has been a legal and general term for rape since its first records;^[4][8] Scriban defined it as the violation of a woman.^[4][8] Writers used it figuratively for any violent breach: Lovinescu praised Arghezi for a “perpetual rape” of the worn-out moulds of the language.^[4] The general sense “violation” is now rare, covered by violare.^[4][2] DEX 2009 defines the crime in terms that no longer specify the sex of victim or offender, where DEX 1998 still spoke of a man forcing a woman.^[3][9]

Timeline

• 1900 – in Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary, MDA2's first record.^[2]
• 1939 – Scriban glosses it “violation (of a woman)”.^[8]
• 2009 – DEX gives a definition that names no sex.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. rape: the crime of forcing a person into sexual intercourse, or taking advantage of their inability to defend themselves or express their will.^[3][2]
2. (rare) violation, breach.^[2][4]

Related words

• viola
• violare
• violator

Usage notes

It is pronounced in two syllables, vi-ol, with the plural violuri.^[3][5] A separate rare viol is a variant of violă, the musical instrument.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1485
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1199
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. viol
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1408
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1163